June 24, 2002

NEW ORLEANS, La.-Former Tulane football standout Steve Foley, who set the school record for total offense before embarking on a 12-year pro career, will be inducted in the Lousiana Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday, June 25, in a special ceremony at the Riverdome at the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Bossier City.

Foley, who stands as the Bronco's all-time interception leader with 44 picks, came to Tulane after a standout prep career at Jesuit High. With the Green Wave from 1972-74, he led the team to two winning seasons, including a 9-3 year in 1973 that culminated with an invitation to the Asto-Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, Texas.

Foley becomes the 19th member of the Tulane athletic family to earn Louisiana Hall-of-Fame honors and is the first since 1993 when former sports information director and current associate athletic director M.L. Lagarde garnered the distinction.

Taking over as the team's full-time starter as a sophomore, his first season of eligibility since freshman were not allowed to play on the varsity squad, Foley guided the Green Wave to a 6-5 record that included a 24-13 win over nationally-ranked Georgia and a 24-21 loss at Miami on a contested fifth-down that allowed the Hurricanes to score the winning touchdown.

The following season, Foley led Tulane to a 9-2 regular season that included wins in its first six contests, and a 14-0 thumping of arch-rival and then-No. 8 LSU in the season finale as a beyond capacity crowd of 86,598 fans at old Tulane Stadium were on hand to witness the Green Wave's first win over the Tigers since 1948.

Foley earned team MVP honors that year after leading the team in both passing and rushing yards. He ran for a pair of touchdowns in the season opener against Boston College, broke a 72-yard scoring run against VMI, threw the winning pass with nine seconds left to defeat Duke and scampered for 181 yards - the most ever by a Tulane quarterback - against Vanderbilt to clinch a bid in the Asto-Bluebonnet Bowl.

Foley led the team to a red-hot start again as a senior with a 5-0 record to open the 1974 campaign, but Foley suffered a broken foot in game six of the season against Georgia Tech. Foley worked hard to rehabilitate the foot enough to see reserve duty in the final two games.

Despite the injury, Foley still set a Tulane record a then-school record 3,482 total yards - 1,308 rushing and 2,174 passing - Foley also set a school record for lowest percentage of passes intercepted both in a season - five of 147 passes in 1973 - and for a career -14 of 343 passes for a four percent mark.

One of 13 siblings and one of four to play football at Tulane, Foley was drafted in the eight round of the 1975 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and was able to make the difficult shift from college quarterback to pro defensive back. But instead of joining the NFL squad right away, Foley spent the 1975 season with the Jacksonville Sharks of the now defunct World Football League.

Honing his defensive skills with the Sharks, Foley joined the Broncos the following season and became a mainstay in the defensive backfield where he saw time as both a cornerback and a safety, helping lead Denver to a pair of Super Bowl appearances.